One week in. And so far, only reliably awful Ubaldo (“Ubado?”) Jimenez has left me having the immense urge to hammer on the panic button. In Brett Myers’ case however, I have faith that it was just an off-day against a Toronto team who has the potential to hang double digits on someone every game. And if it weren’t for pure bad luck on an incredible display of defense by Toronto’s Emilio Bonifacio, that was a winnable game as well. I digress.

But he sooner the organization places Jimenez on waivers, the better. The man is a walking drinking game of a bad sort; one that will cause liver corrosion in about a month. We just need him to be blandly average and he’s completely incapable of doing even that. It is at that point where I’d rather the team take their lumps with a still-developing Trevor Bauer over a clearly and mechanically-broken flash-in-the-pan who might only be good for maybe four quality starts a season. And I might be generous.

Now that I have the obvious out of the way, I really like what I’m seeing offensively. Save for the first two games in Tampa, I like the way the guys are swinging the sticks. There’s major wreckage potential here and it’s easy to forget what it’s like to have guys that opposing pitching staffs fear. Obviously, Carlos Santana’s wrist or thumb is a major concern with how absolutely lava-hot he’s been at the onset, but hopefully it was just a scary-looking glancing blow that won’t keep him out for two long.

(An aside: How on earth is it possible that Perez could’ve been crossed up that bad anyway? There was no runner on second, so unless they were thinking that the runner on first was peeking in and were shuffling the signs to shield against that, I seriously don’t know how else they would have screwed that up. I’m hoping they sent Chris to the eye doctor or something. Stuff like that shouldn’t happen. Am I right?)

And Pronk being Pronk. At least he got it out of the way early instead of doing it in a soul-sucking and late-inning fashion. By that token, he was charitable. I must admit, it’s nice to see him look healthy.

All in all, not a bad opening week. Masterson’s been great, Bauer showed flashes of his talent in his spot-start, Vinnie’s his usual strong self. Reynold’s is doing his “bombs away!” thing. There’s a lot to like about this team amongst a couple glaring blemishes, especially when guys like Cabrera and Kipnis are scuffling early. So I know, it’s too early to start looking at the ledge even if Jimenez is having a crappy day.

Bottoms up, anyway.

The Doctor

I’m holding out the hope that Ubaldo can fake being just not horrible enough that we can convince some team in need of a starter to give us something for him at the deadline. Then again, if he’s still on the team at the deadline, the season probably hasn’t gone very well…

Chris Burnham

From your lips to God’s ears.

Sean Porter

That’s the sad thing – we were hoping that the Indians traded for a true #1 starting pitcher… Someone who could go toe to toe with Justin Verlander, David Price, et al…

Today? Today we would do backflips if Ubaldo could just give us 180+ innings of mediocrity. Not great, not even good, just ok. Middling.

Chris Burnham

The solace I take is that the trade hasn’t worked on the Rockies’ end, either.

Drew

or the Astros now that Alex White’s season is over since he needs Tommy John’s surgery.

Chris Burnham

I had forgotten all about that. That trade has taken on the look of a pure garbage swap.

Drew

Joe Gardner is at 25 year old AA with 16.20 ERA so far in 2013 as a relief pitcher. He was a starter last year. He doesn’t appear the headed to AAA ever

Matt McBride is 28 years old and in AAA Colorado Springs where he hitting the cover off the ball. This is Todd Helton’s final season and Matt McBride may get a call-up to fill in for him. But at 28 years of age, it is unlikely that he will ever be much more than replacement level in the MLB.

Drew Pomeranz still has a shot he is only 24 years old. He had solid first start of the season. He will be back in Denver at some point this season. Like Jeremy Guthrie, it will suit him to get out of Denver ASAP.

and Alex White will not pitch again until 2014.

So the Indians traded 4 players who have been/will be fringe MLB players for one pitcher who has about a 20% brilliance rate at the MLB level. The Indians got the bad end of this trade from a financial impact alone; skill it was likely a wash. White/Pomeranz would have become arbitration-eligible in the final year of the Jimenez contract at the rosiest of scenarios. And that was after the Indians paid their signing bonuses.

Sean Porter

Oh yes, I remember the Indians having their AAA team in Colorado Springs in the 80s fondly… I remember looking at the Tribe’s AAA stats and salivating over “all these young fantastic hitters we have at Colorado Springs!”

Then they’d get called up and hit .230 and be lucky to occasionally get one to the warning track.

DP Roberts

In regards to the first sentence – how about NOT calling him “Ubado”? One of the reasons I like this blog is that it doesn’t descend to the level of the “comments” section of the typical internet posting. Making fun of people’s names was funny in kindergarten, but not so much afterwards. Sure, we can criticize his performance, but save the “Ubado” and “Ustinko” for the kiddies.

Chris Burnham

Maybe when he starts to command that level of respect.

Sean Porter

I’m eagerly looking forward to whoever posts about tonight’s game and more specifically, Carlos Carrasco and his magic bean-ball.